Hokitika Guardian & evening star WEDNESDAY, JUNE, 30th., 1920. THE COST OF LIVING.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 June 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & evening star WEDNESDAY, JUNE, 30th., 1920. THE COST OF LIVING.

The cost' of living question is sure to bo in the forefront of the pj'o.sieflt session. There is no more burning question of the hour, and it cannot be said that the Government lias given it the serious attention it should. The authorities have been content to pass responsibilities on to boards, and the best we have seen are'prosecutipns about pots of vaseline gad alleged excessive char, ges of iilart)} clocks.. These matters 'have not touched file general opiise of the trouble—the ever-ihereasing demands upon the public purso which are the serious concern of all. High prices have been used and are being used as a means to inflame public opinion and increase labor unrest—facts which should <);ave awakened the Government .to more determined action than has been apparent. The wh.ole question is if very large one, and in respect to many commodities spatters are now quite beyond even the control of the Govern-

niena. There are commodities wldcli are part and parcel of the necessaries of everyday life, and for these we are dependent upon outside markets, and to secure the goods, have to pay the world’s priqo or go without. But there are the staple commodities affecting the cost of living produced .within the country, and with regard to.these jt must lie confessed that the Government has been more considerate for the producer Ilian the consumer. When the war was rife, and it was a life and death struggle the Government took no thought of the individaul but ruled lightly that all were on an equal footing and all must; serve. Though now a reign of comparative peace, there is still great turmoil in the struggle, to live, and though naturally the golden rule that rules in the end—the law of supply and demand—must not be overlooked, while the demand is always there persistent and unsatisfied, the matter of supply is checked by both under production and hoarding. In regard io these matters something should lie done in a national way to ensure a more equitable condition inf supply. The matter of under production js fo be attributed mainly to the unsettled conditions of labour. There was of course the great baring of supplies and accumulatedstocks during the period of the war. That reserve is not being made good, in fact immediate necessities are not forthcoming. The hoarder or profiteer is a factor also in the short supplies reaching the market, and song; fjnd living conditions maintained only under an expensive cost, which in turn sends up wages, and so increases the cost of production, adding another turn of the screw to the higher cost of living. Thus

the vicious circle, us it has been called, I is traversed to the discomfiture of the ; people us a whole. The enrdinal precept for good government is the greatest good for tlie greatest member, but this is not being observed. Communities are broken up into parties which take J first care of themselves, add the noise- j iest and most aggressive appear to wield the most influence, and they get the best of the deal. Toe unmganised masses, the non-producers of commodities, but the great consumers of such, these are not -comedored in the social economic scheme, hut it is in that <|Uarter where the greatest unrest prevails as a result, of the inequalities of the government which does not cater impartially for all national sections